This not only gives you the best chance to be noticed but also to drive a conversion. Timing is an extremely important element in B2B marketing and sales. The degree of prospect receptivity can range from zero percent (there is no chance I will buy your product) to 100 percent (where do I sign?). Most prospects are somewhere in between these extremes. MORE

Sometimes the best course is to persist and push through the obstacle and sometimes the best course is to apply a little dose of patience. As has been stated in works ranging from the Bible to the Beatles, there is a time for every purpose. Here are some examples of when to practice persistence. Be persistent in setting goals for your marketing programs. Better yet, make them intentions. How many unique visitors will you have at your website? MORE

We were discussing the best way not only to attract prospects, but also to set up a lead nurturing campaign that will convert the largest number possible into paying clients. I just had an interesting conversation about campaign targeting with a really smart client. MORE

Budgets are often like a “land grab,” with the best results going to those who get there fastest. If you have such a budget waster on your team, it’s best to part company with them quickly. In a recent discussion on the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) LinkedIn network, Art Hyde asked this question: How do you keep your marketing budget from being cut by the CFO while every other line-item is untouched? MORE

Selecting from the best choices reduces your investment risk and increases the likelihood of a successful new hire. Last month, David Brock, president of Partners in Excellence, published an excellent article titled A Frightening Look At the Cost Of a Sales Person. Brock recounted some statistics that should disturb senior sales executives, as well as their CEOs and CFOs. MORE

As a B2B or B2C marketer, one of the best ways you can support your company’s sales team and revenue […]. The post Why You Need to Pay Attention to Search Engine Marketing appeared first on Great B2B Marketing. Search Engine Marketing SEO MORE

We have had our collective fill of managers preaching “synergy” and “putting the best foot forward”. Ever since the end of the 1990’s, there has been backlash against the proliferation of clichés in the business world. MORE

Is this my best option of all those available? There are three primary objectives of a marketing campaign: Find qualified prospects (potential buyers). Create desire within these prospects to purchase your product or service. Remove all barriers to the purchase process. Many B2B and B2C companies do a good job at the first two objectives. They know where to find prospects, or better yet, they help prospects find them, which is the essence of effective inbound (pull) marketing. MORE

As a B2B marketer, one of the best social media tools you can use is LinkedIn. At my company, Fusion Marketing Partners, we have a policy of not spending money on marketing or sales. We are “pull” (inbound) marketers to the core and this philosophy has served us well. Of course, we do lots of “push” (outbound) marketing for clients, but we try to move them in the direction of pull marketing in order to drive awareness and leads up and drive new customer acquisition costs down. MORE

For some time, these factors were considered the four criteria that best demonstrated that a specific individual or company was a qualified lead, and not just a raw inquirer or possible future prospect. I just read, and commented on, a thought-provoking article titled Lead Gen: A proposed replacement for BANT. Written by David Green, the premise of the piece is that the BANT formula, for the most part, is no longer relevant. MORE

The best solution is to have two different people in these roles, but if you can’t afford this, then supplement the weaker discipline with quality outsourcing. My partner, Myron Berg, and I were recently discussing how what we do at Fusion Marketing Partners benefits our clients. While we can always be depended on to produce results in terms of awareness, leads and revenue, it struck us that we also deliver an intangible with a huge benefit: peace of mind. MORE

In the best-case scenario, we get to review and provide input for the sales plan. At the least, we want to understand the sales model so that we can formulate a marketing plan of attack that best supports the sales plan. MORE

Best of success in your B2B mobile marketing efforts. International Data Corp.’s ’s 2013 Tech Marketing Benchmark Study shows that B2B companies this year allocated only 1.7% of their marketing budgets for mobile ads, 1.4% for mobile web and apps, and 0.7% for SMS text messaging. MORE

One of the great things about my job is the opportunity to work with some of the leading B2B companies in the US and worldwide. This gives the FMP team and me the ability to track the most significant issues facing marketing and sales professionals. MORE

Create a recurring revenue stream – the best example of the recurring revenue model are desktop printers, where the printer sale is considered a loss leader, and the customer pays a fortune in ink and other supplies over time. MORE

Rather, you can make your best offer and keep in touch. I mostly write about B2B marketing issues, but am often asked by my clients to consult on issues related to sales performance. One of my key mantras is that you must have your B2B marketing and sales plans and processes fully aligned. MORE

You will be best rewarded by approaching your social media adventures as a marathon, instead of a sprint. I have seen a repeated pattern when it comes to using social media in B2B marketing. A company executive or marketing manager drinks the social media Kool-Aid and decides to make it a big part of their pull marketing strategy. The next thing you know, he or she is posting, tweeting, responding, bookmarking and otherwise fully engaged in every social networking outlet they can find. MORE

Rather than fight this reality, just accept who has the real control—and find the best ways to help people buy in the way they want to buy, instead of the way you want to sell to them. Even though I make my living as a marketer, I get as bothered as any other consumer by the constant intrusiveness of unwanted promotions. The abundance of unsolicited marketing pitches from TV, radio, Internet ads and other media exasperates me daily. MORE

Selling at its best is a team effort and it is a serious error to lose a possible deal because the sales rep neglected to bring in the rest of his or her teammates. My blog posts and articles mostly deal with marketing issues. MORE

The best path usually lies somewhere between these two extremes, with a healthy bias towards action. eMarketing Strategy’s Ruth Stevens, one of the nation’s foremost practitioners of B2B marketing, posted the above graphic on LinkedIn. MORE

Instead, institute a qualification process so that sales reps spend time at what they do best (selling and closing), not what they do poorly (qualify leads). I was talking to a former colleague yesterday and she made the claim that as a marketer, she had no control over the sales process and little or any impact on revenue. Regardless of whether this is true at her particular company, B2B marketers should (and do) have substantial impact on sales revenue. MORE

Regardless of how many times you hear adages from your partners such as, “Consider us an extension of your sales force” or “We’re all in this together,” – when the going gets tough, the partner will make decisions in its own best interest. Since the primary motivation of your partners is the success of their companies, why would they cooperate in a program that was not in their best interests? MORE

What key tactics best fit our Marketing Strategy? But what tactics yield the best results? What B2B marketing tactics are working now for others, and how well? Where should we emphasize or deemphasize our marketing focus? MORE

Question: How many companies have messaging like the following: “We have the best customer service in our industry”? Question: How many of the companies that claim to have the best customer service are lying? MORE

As I mentioned, we will talk in future posts about the best offers and methods to reactivate a tired contact list. Your contact list is not getting any fresher and the best time to begin is right now. I write a lot about how to generate B2B leads. Usually, the context is to target new prospects, individuals or companies who have not previously responded to a lead gen offer. MORE

Establish Brand Authority – The best way to use LinkedIn to establish a brand authority is to consistently post updates that reinforce your area of expertise and differentiation. If you want to learn from the best, visit Kevin’s website and blog. MORE

Some companies are good at generating B2B sales leads , others are good at qualifying and closing those leads, but the top performing companies, are those that leverage B2B lead management techniques and can do both. Here are six strategies you can implement to create your own unstoppable marketing and sales machine: Follow up every inbound inquiry within 48 hours – preferably 24 hours. MORE

The post Marketing Technology – Your Best Friend or Nightmare? One of the most important enablers of an effective lead-to-revenue framework is marketing technology, which, combined with CRM and a […]. appeared first on Great B2B Marketing. MORE

More often than not, the best place to meet them is in cyberspace and not the other end of a telephone line. One of my favorite bloggers is Paul Castain, who produces excellent content for the Sales Playbook website. MORE

One of the best examples of a fun personality combined with great business acumen is Herbert D. Every B2B company has its own identity, target market and products or services. But all have one thing in common. Each wants to be perceived as a leader in its chosen market space, and each wants to gain as much publicity as possible while spending the least amount of time and money. This is true for our Fusion Marketing Partners clients, and it is equally true for your organization. MORE

The best way to act quickly while minimizing risks is to work with B2B marketers (internal or external) who have a strong batting average with demand generation in your specific industry. You can best accomplish this by adopting a revenue model and practicing proven sales growth strategies. I just listened to an interesting podcast featuring my old colleague Heidi Melin. Heidi is CMO of Plex Systems and is a well-respected marketer. MORE

Like many of you, I am in the middle of the process of strategizing how to best achieve my 2015 objectives, which include optimizing results for my family, business, friendships, activities, and so forth. And when I look back on 2014, I think I did a decent job of improving results in each of these areas. However, if there is one thing that was a barrier to more success, it is the insidious habit of focusing on non-productive activities. MORE

I will leave you a quote from that paragon of branding, Jerry Garcia, who said, “Success isn’t about being perceived as the best at what you do. I was a guest speaker for The Center for Business Modeling at a video/podcast on a subject near and dear to my heart: the economic value of a brand. MORE

You can claim to be the company with the best product or service, but it may not matter if you make a poor first impression. Also, best to be in business dress, not looking as if you just stepped off a baseball field. MORE

What key tactics best fit our Marketing Strategy? But what tactics yield the best results? What B2B marketing tactics are working now for others, and how well? Where should we emphasize or deemphasize our marketing focus?

The post Marketing Technology – Your Best Friend or Nightmare? One of the most important enablers of an effective lead-to-revenue framework is marketing technology, which, combined with CRM and a […]. appeared first on Great B2B Marketing.

Selecting from the best choices reduces your investment risk and increases the likelihood of a successful new hire. Last month, David Brock, president of Partners in Excellence, published an excellent article titled A Frightening Look At the Cost Of a Sales Person. Brock recounted some statistics that should disturb senior sales executives, as well as their CEOs and CFOs.

I will leave you a quote from that paragon of branding, Jerry Garcia, who said, “Success isn’t about being perceived as the best at what you do. I was a guest speaker for The Center for Business Modeling at a video/podcast on a subject near and dear to my heart: the economic value of a brand.

As a B2B marketer, one of the best social media tools you can use is LinkedIn. At my company, Fusion Marketing Partners, we have a policy of not spending money on marketing or sales. We are “pull” (inbound) marketers to the core and this philosophy has served us well. Of course, we do lots of “push” (outbound) marketing for clients, but we try to move them in the direction of pull marketing in order to drive awareness and leads up and drive new customer acquisition costs down.

Best of success in your B2B mobile marketing efforts. International Data Corp.’s ’s 2013 Tech Marketing Benchmark Study shows that B2B companies this year allocated only 1.7% of their marketing budgets for mobile ads, 1.4% for mobile web and apps, and 0.7% for SMS text messaging.

Question: How many companies have messaging like the following: “We have the best customer service in our industry”? Question: How many of the companies that claim to have the best customer service are lying?

The best path usually lies somewhere between these two extremes, with a healthy bias towards action. eMarketing Strategy’s Ruth Stevens, one of the nation’s foremost practitioners of B2B marketing, posted the above graphic on LinkedIn.

I will leave you a quote from that paragon of branding, Jerry Garcia, who said, “Success isn’t about being perceived as the best at what you do. I was a guest speaker for The Center for Business Modeling at a video/podcast on a subject near and dear to my heart: the economic value of a brand.

As a B2B marketer, one of the best social media tools you can use is LinkedIn. At my company, Fusion Marketing Partners, we have a policy of not spending money on marketing or sales. We are “pull” (inbound) marketers to the core and this philosophy has served us well. Of course, we do lots of “push” (outbound) marketing for clients, but we try to move them in the direction of pull marketing in order to drive awareness and leads up and drive new customer acquisition costs down.

More often than not, the best place to meet them is in cyberspace and not the other end of a telephone line. One of my favorite bloggers is Paul Castain, who produces excellent content for the Sales Playbook website.

Some companies are good at generating B2B sales leads , others are good at qualifying and closing those leads, but the top performing companies, are those that leverage B2B lead management techniques and can do both. Here are six strategies you can implement to create your own unstoppable marketing and sales machine: Follow up every inbound inquiry within 48 hours – preferably 24 hours.

Regardless of how many times you hear adages from your partners such as, “Consider us an extension of your sales force” or “We’re all in this together,” – when the going gets tough, the partner will make decisions in its own best interest. Since the primary motivation of your partners is the success of their companies, why would they cooperate in a program that was not in their best interests?

We were discussing the best way not only to attract prospects, but also to set up a lead nurturing campaign that will convert the largest number possible into paying clients. I just had an interesting conversation about campaign targeting with a really smart client.

In the best-case scenario, we get to review and provide input for the sales plan. At the least, we want to understand the sales model so that we can formulate a marketing plan of attack that best supports the sales plan.

The best way to act quickly while minimizing risks is to work with B2B marketers (internal or external) who have a strong batting average with demand generation in your specific industry. You can best accomplish this by adopting a revenue model and practicing proven sales growth strategies. I just listened to an interesting podcast featuring my old colleague Heidi Melin. Heidi is CMO of Plex Systems and is a well-respected marketer.

We have had our collective fill of managers preaching “synergy” and “putting the best foot forward”. Ever since the end of the 1990’s, there has been backlash against the proliferation of clichés in the business world.

One of the great things about my job is the opportunity to work with some of the leading B2B companies in the US and worldwide. This gives the FMP team and me the ability to track the most significant issues facing marketing and sales professionals.

Rather than fight this reality, just accept who has the real control—and find the best ways to help people buy in the way they want to buy, instead of the way you want to sell to them. Even though I make my living as a marketer, I get as bothered as any other consumer by the constant intrusiveness of unwanted promotions. The abundance of unsolicited marketing pitches from TV, radio, Internet ads and other media exasperates me daily.

Rather, you can make your best offer and keep in touch. I mostly write about B2B marketing issues, but am often asked by my clients to consult on issues related to sales performance. One of my key mantras is that you must have your B2B marketing and sales plans and processes fully aligned.

Is this my best option of all those available? There are three primary objectives of a marketing campaign: Find qualified prospects (potential buyers). Create desire within these prospects to purchase your product or service. Remove all barriers to the purchase process. Many B2B and B2C companies do a good job at the first two objectives. They know where to find prospects, or better yet, they help prospects find them, which is the essence of effective inbound (pull) marketing.

As a B2B or B2C marketer, one of the best ways you can support your company’s sales team and revenue […]. The post Why You Need to Pay Attention to Search Engine Marketing appeared first on Great B2B Marketing. Search Engine Marketing SEO

For some time, these factors were considered the four criteria that best demonstrated that a specific individual or company was a qualified lead, and not just a raw inquirer or possible future prospect. I just read, and commented on, a thought-provoking article titled Lead Gen: A proposed replacement for BANT. Written by David Green, the premise of the piece is that the BANT formula, for the most part, is no longer relevant.

Like many of you, I am in the middle of the process of strategizing how to best achieve my 2015 objectives, which include optimizing results for my family, business, friendships, activities, and so forth. And when I look back on 2014, I think I did a decent job of improving results in each of these areas. However, if there is one thing that was a barrier to more success, it is the insidious habit of focusing on non-productive activities.

Selling at its best is a team effort and it is a serious error to lose a possible deal because the sales rep neglected to bring in the rest of his or her teammates. My blog posts and articles mostly deal with marketing issues.

You will be best rewarded by approaching your social media adventures as a marathon, instead of a sprint. I have seen a repeated pattern when it comes to using social media in B2B marketing. A company executive or marketing manager drinks the social media Kool-Aid and decides to make it a big part of their pull marketing strategy. The next thing you know, he or she is posting, tweeting, responding, bookmarking and otherwise fully engaged in every social networking outlet they can find.

Budgets are often like a “land grab,” with the best results going to those who get there fastest. If you have such a budget waster on your team, it’s best to part company with them quickly. In a recent discussion on the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) LinkedIn network, Art Hyde asked this question: How do you keep your marketing budget from being cut by the CFO while every other line-item is untouched?

Instead, institute a qualification process so that sales reps spend time at what they do best (selling and closing), not what they do poorly (qualify leads). I was talking to a former colleague yesterday and she made the claim that as a marketer, she had no control over the sales process and little or any impact on revenue. Regardless of whether this is true at her particular company, B2B marketers should (and do) have substantial impact on sales revenue.

Sometimes the best course is to persist and push through the obstacle and sometimes the best course is to apply a little dose of patience. As has been stated in works ranging from the Bible to the Beatles, there is a time for every purpose. Here are some examples of when to practice persistence. Be persistent in setting goals for your marketing programs. Better yet, make them intentions. How many unique visitors will you have at your website?

The best solution is to have two different people in these roles, but if you can’t afford this, then supplement the weaker discipline with quality outsourcing. My partner, Myron Berg, and I were recently discussing how what we do at Fusion Marketing Partners benefits our clients. While we can always be depended on to produce results in terms of awareness, leads and revenue, it struck us that we also deliver an intangible with a huge benefit: peace of mind.

As I mentioned, we will talk in future posts about the best offers and methods to reactivate a tired contact list. Your contact list is not getting any fresher and the best time to begin is right now. I write a lot about how to generate B2B leads. Usually, the context is to target new prospects, individuals or companies who have not previously responded to a lead gen offer.

You can claim to be the company with the best product or service, but it may not matter if you make a poor first impression. Also, best to be in business dress, not looking as if you just stepped off a baseball field.

Create a recurring revenue stream – the best example of the recurring revenue model are desktop printers, where the printer sale is considered a loss leader, and the customer pays a fortune in ink and other supplies over time.

This not only gives you the best chance to be noticed but also to drive a conversion. Timing is an extremely important element in B2B marketing and sales. The degree of prospect receptivity can range from zero percent (there is no chance I will buy your product) to 100 percent (where do I sign?). Most prospects are somewhere in between these extremes.

One of the best examples of a fun personality combined with great business acumen is Herbert D. Every B2B company has its own identity, target market and products or services. But all have one thing in common. Each wants to be perceived as a leader in its chosen market space, and each wants to gain as much publicity as possible while spending the least amount of time and money. This is true for our Fusion Marketing Partners clients, and it is equally true for your organization.

Establish Brand Authority – The best way to use LinkedIn to establish a brand authority is to consistently post updates that reinforce your area of expertise and differentiation. If you want to learn from the best, visit Kevin’s website and blog.